Glengarry Highland Games numbers are up, with 45 bands, 259 soloists in for Aug. 1-2 extravaganza

Forty-five pipe bands and 259 solo pipers and drummers will descend on the tiny eastern Ontario farming town of Maxville to compete at the 2025 Glengarry Highland Games, Friday, August 1st, and Saturday, August 2nd, the world’s largest band and solo competition by number of events, 63 in all.

The 78th Fraser Highlanders of Ontario is the only Grade 1 band entered, and they will perform a Medley and an MSR. The top contested band event will be Grade 2, with seven bands vying for prizes in Medley and MSR competitions.

• City of Dunedin – Dunedin, Florida
• Dartmouth & District – Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
• Guelph – Guelph, Ontario
• Peel Regional Police – Brampton, Ontario
• Toronto Police – Toronto
• Ulster Scottish – Philadelphia
• Wasatch & District – Bountiful, Utah

For the first time, the Glengarry Highland Games will hold a Juvenile band competition. Three bands are entered:

• Guelph-Peel Juvenile – Ontario
• Capital District Youth – Albany, New York
• Glengarry Juvenile – Maxville, Ontario

“We are very happy to have a Juvenile grade this year,” Bruce McCuaig, director of pipe bands, said. “We are very fortunate that the Pipers & Pipe Bands’ Society of Ontario and the Glengarry Highland Games are very supportive in promoting youth in piping and drumming.”

All of the band and Professional Solo competitions will be held on Saturday, while Friday is reserved for a plethora of amateur competitions at the games park.

Also on Friday, in Maxville’s bustling downtown, the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada) solo piping competitions will take place at St. Michael & All Angels Anglican Church.

Once again, the Clan Donald Trust for the Gaelic Performing Arts is sponsoring the events, which have a total prize purse of $7,900. This includes a $3,000 award for the winner of the Bar to the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada), the event reserved for winners of the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada).

Nine pipers have entered for the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada), which will be awarded in memory of Bill Livingstone. Livingstone competed and judged at the Glengarry Highland Games for six decades before passing away in February in his eighty-third year.

In alphabetical order, here are the contestants and their assigned tunes:

• Joe Biggs, Ajax, Ontario, “The Prince’s Salute”
• John Bottomley, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, “Lament for the Departure of King James”
• Aiden Bowen, Pickering, Ontario, “The Young Laird of Dungallons’ Salute”
• Tyler Bridge, Guelph, Ontario, “The Prince’s Salute”
• Alan Clark, Finch, Ontario, “A Son’s Salute to His Parents”
• Andrew Donlon, Washington, DC, “Lady Margaret MacDonald’s Salute”
• Tyler Johnson, Oak Park, Michigan, “Ronald MacDonald of Morar’s Lament”
• Dan Lyden, Timonium, Maryland, “The Stewarts’ White Banner”
• William Shropshire, Durham, North Carolina, “Lament for Ronald MacDonald of Morar”

Seven pipers, and the winner of the Gold Medal if he chooses to compete, are entered for the Bar to the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada):

• Daniel Carr, Collingwood, Ontario, “Mary’s Praise”
• Jacob Dicker, Maxville, Ontario, “Lament for Patrick Og MacCrimmon”
• Bruce Gandy, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, “Lament for the Laird of Anapool”
• Andrew Hayes, Nepean, Ontario, “Lament for the Harp Tree”
• Ian K. MacDonald, Whitby, Ontario, “The Phantom Piper of Corrieyairack”
• James MacHattie, Summerside, Prince Edward Island, “Scarce of Fishing”
• Ben McClamrock, Bethesda, Maryland, “The Red Speckled Bull”

Ed Bush, Ian Duncan and Colin MacLellan will judge both events. This will be a warm-up for Duncan, who alone gets to judge 21 pipers in the Professional Piobaireachd event the next day.

The same 21 pipers will compete in the Professional MSR event, judged by Richard Parkes.

According to the last Canadian census (2021), the farming community of Maxville had a population of 748. Tens of thousands converge on the town during the Glengarry Highland Games, which are sometimes visited by the Prime Minister of Canada.

Stay tuned to pipes|drums for results and videos from the 2025 Glengarry Highland Games.